You're Chill Enough
by Landlordlikesland
Summary: Jeremy has Christine, Michael has Rich, and everyone at Middleborough High has peace of mind knowing the SQUIPS are gone. His house finally feels like a home, and he has enough friends to put on a school play by themselves. But as almost-seniors, they all soon realize that drug dealing cousins can break the kindest, and it takes all of them to actually be Chill .
1. Introductions and the Aftermath

**Yo, welcome to my new story! I have a little bit of an idea about what I'm gonna do with this story, but if anyone has a suggestion for the story, definitely let me know! I don't own BMC obviously but I have some info on the story here we go:**

 **They're all seniors**

 **Christine and Dustin are cousins( this is actually canon o my god) also he's the main provider of weed at school and is constantly broke**

 **Christine and Jeremy are together bc they are just cute dorks ah, and Michael and Rich are together bc I felt like it**

 **Uuuhhhh Rich has burn scars and Jakes legs are healing**

 **here comes the big one: I'm gonna be super unoriginal and make Evan and Jeremy step-brothers, this has some impact on the story don't worry**

 **this story is gonna be kinda slow at the beginning but it'll pick up real quick don't worry**

 **ON TO THE STORY**

* * *

 ** _J_**

Jeremy was better.

He had a great girlfriend, Michael didn't hate him, he was mending things with Brooke, and he could now stand to be in the same room with Chloe.

Michael, he was something. He was hilarious, supportive, and wasn't afraid to tell Jeremy off about his shit. They hung out whenever they could and still told each other everything. Michael told Jeremy about the bathroom incident, to which Jeremy apologized profusely, and that was when Michael revealed how he had a crush on him for three years. Jeremy apologized again, but he just didn't reciprocate the feelings.

Michael told him that it was okay, that he was over Jeremy, that he had Rich now. After everything, the Squip, the fight, _everything_ , Michael was still his friend, and they ended up getting high and playing video games after that.

* * *

Brooke, she was amazing. When the 'Squip Squad' as they dubbed it, were getting closer, Jeremy made Brooke chocolate chip cookies to apologize for what had happened. At least, he _tried_ to. He ended up almost setting the oven on fire, and used three times the butter than what was listed, but he made them, and when he gave them to Brooke the next day, he realized just how much he _sucked_ at baking.

She had tried to hide her smile, her shy, pretty, smile, but instead ended up falling into her locker as she suppressed giggles. Jeremy laughed and feigned hurt, but helped her up nonetheless. After he told her he was so, _so sorry_ , for everything, she forgave him. He remembered how she had inspected the black, brittle lumps before throwing them away and told him he owed her a trip to Pinkberry.

He made it up to her.

* * *

Then there's Chloe. Sassy, bitchy, beautiful Chloe. After the bedroom incident, she hadn't tried to earn back Jeremy's trust very hard, but she's eventually told him she was sorry. He accepted it, but still tried to avoid being in the same room with her alone. Eventually they mended their friendship, but they're still uneasy around each other.

Of course, Jeremy won't forget that one time when he didn't have anything to wear on a date with Christine, and she showed up at his door thirty minutes later with Starbucks and seven outfits to try on.

* * *

And Christine. Christine was everything Jeremy ever wished from a girl. She was passionate, beautiful, sweet, and she was in to Jeremy, which is the best quality he could've asked for.

After the Squip incident, Christine and Jeremy had tried to deal with the trauma themselves. Jeremy stayed holed up in his room for five days in a row, only leaving to eat and use the bathroom (which wasn't even leaving, the bathroom was connected to his room by a small door). Though they kissed after Jeremy confessed his feelings, they barely talked after that, and according to Christine, she had avoided everyone at school, staying in her room when she got home, too.

Eventually, Christine reached out to him via text, and they decided on a date to go out and talk about what was next for them. They met up at a quaint coffee shop, Christine choosing raspberry tea, an odd choice in late January, and Jeremy had a simple coffee with too much cream and sugar to be healthy.

They worked out their problems, talked about what they were, if they were a couple, and as awkward as it was, they got through it. They decided to try being together for a week, seeing what it would be like.

They went on their first official date Febuary 1st. They went to Sbarro and shared a pizza. It was awkward, in a cute, dorky, way, and Christine managed to convince him to join the school play next year, despite what had happened mere weeks before.

Before they let, Christine gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and he left feeling tingly, kind of in shock, like he had just won the lottery. When he got home he told Michael everything, and Michael was supportive, joking and made fun of him for falling in love on the first date. (He said things like 'jeez Jer, at least take her out to dinner first' and 'jeez Jer, at do the dirty first')

* * *

Jeremy had friends, a girlfriend, and his dad was finally starting to wear pants again, which was nice, and despite most of them being ridiculously skin-tight, neon jeans or leather bell-bottoms, at least he was wearing them. It was the thought that counts.

Then there was Heidi and Evan Hansen. Heidi was his Dad's girlfriend, who he had met through -get this- Tinder. When they finally met in person, it had surprisingly gone well, and they went on more and more dates, until they finally moved in about a month before school ended.

Jeremy's bed has always been a twin, so it wasn't too hard to fit Evan's bed (which was also a twin), and an extra dresser into his room. The two beds were pressed against the wall by the head, and bedside table inbetween the two beds, which left a small space between the beds.

Evan and Heidi turned out to be a great addition to the Heere household. Heidi kept Mr. Heere under control (basically she made him wear pants and told him that eating Lucky Charms for every meal wasn't healthy), and taught Jeremy how to properly do laundry, unlike how Michael had taught him years ago (no, Jer, you _don't_ have to separate the colors and whites, Michael and told him). Surprisingly, Evan and Jeremy sharing a room proved helpful, because Evan's anxiety kept from the room getting _too_ dirty. Which usually meant Jeremy would wake up to Evan organizing Jeremy's xBox cords at six in the morning.

They had moved in a few weeks ago, and Jeremy didn't have anyone over because the house was a war zone of boxes and laundry and misplaced furniture.

Jeremy's life was turning around, which brings us to present day Middleborough, New Jersey, on May 26th, 2017, at 3:42 in the afternoon.

* * *

"Jeremy!" A familiar tall, brown haired boy ran up to him, shouldering his bag and shoving his phone into his jacket pocket. "Chris wanted to see you at her locker. She said it's urgent."

Immediatly Jeremy thought of the worst possible scenarios. She wanted to break up with him, he wasn't good enough, she found someone better, she was moving away-no. He can't think of things like that. Instead of voicing his thoughts, he mustered a meek "Thanks, Jake," and reluctantly watched him walk out the front door of the school, gazing on sadly as Jake high-fived Rich on his way out.

He walked slowly, not wanting to face the inevitable breakup that was happening in less than five minutes. Jeremy knew he shouldn't have gotten so attached to her, to someone so out of his league. He finally reached her locker just as she was closing it.

She turned and smiled brightly at him, and just like _that_ , his worries washed away. He mustered a small smile in return, trying not to let his anxiety get the best of him.

Christine's smile faded slightly, and her eyebrows furrowed in the cutest way possible. She gently touched his arm. "Hey, are you okay?" He nodded furiously.

"Oh, yeah, just uh, yep."

She gently takes his hand and kisses him on the cheek. It's kind of awkward because Christine is so short and Jeremy is super Tallis he has to lean forward, but it's a sweet gesture. He's starting to feel better, maybe she just wanted to talk and walk home with him.

"Did you need something? I didn't expect to see you here, I figured I'd just catch up on my way over to your house." Jeremy's face converted into one of confusion at her words.

"But Jake said you wanted to talk to me." She smiled a little and laced their fingers, packing up her bag with one hand. Jeremy leans down and helps her with the last book. She grins a little and despite himself, he kisses her.

She never responds to his comment. (He doesn't mind.)

Someone clears their throat behind them, and they both look up sheepishly. Michael stood over them, shaking his head in faux disappointment, sipping a slushie.

"Straight people," he said in a disapproving tone, "they never learn."

Jeremy stood up and let go of Christine's hand for a moment to do their signature handshake. (Jeremy is still a fucking NERD)

"We still on for Saturday?" Michael and Jeremy had decided to get high and play video games in Michael's basement Saturday night.

"Yeah, I think so. Dad said something about an 'attic expedition' or something. He basically just wants to go up and look for stuff for mine and Evan's room." Jeremy grabbed Christine's hand again as she stood up. She smiled up at Michael. (She's so short omg)

"We should probably get going, don't want to be around when the chess club meets." Jeremy urged, and shouldered his bag. Michael nodded and adjusted his glasses. His phone beeped and he grinned sheepishly.

"That's probably Rich. I told him I would meet him outside, and we know he has the attention span of a field mouse. See ya'." Michael walked off, adjusting his headphones on his head and hiking his bag up his shoulders.

"That boy is in love." Christine commented as she watched him dance away toward the front doors of the school. Jeremy snorted.

"Rich just better not fuck up or hurt him, or _he'll_ be fucked up and hurt." Christine lightly smacked his chest.

"Don't say that! Rich is your friend, dummy. Also I highly you could beat him up." She continued shoving books into her gray bag as Jeremy grumbled about how 'she didn't have any hope in him' and 'he could totally beat up Rich because he used to do at least thirty push-ups a day because of the SQUIP', so she kissed him to shut him up.

She finished trying to fit the thousands of books in her backpack and zipped it up. As she grabbed her gym bag filled with clothes and other necessities for the night at Jeremy's, Dustin Kropp walked up to them, bringing the rich smell of weed with.

"Hello, dear cousin." Dustin cooed as he leaned against the locker next to Christine.

She groaned inwardly as she kneeled on the ground in front of her locker. She glared up at him through a lock of dark hair that shadowed her eyes. Jeremy shuffled awkwardly and edged closer to Christine's side.

"What do you want, Dustin?" She huffed at him, blowing the hair out of her eyes.

He yawned and stretched luxuriously, arching his back and stretching his arms out in a way that reminded Christine of a smug, lazy cat in the sun.

She stood and swung her gym bag over her backpack. Jeremy gently laces their fingers, for moral support, she assumes, and doesn't miss the incredulous look Dustin sends her way when he notices, like: _him? You could date anyone in the school, and you choose him?_ She simply glares in return. He shakes his head.

"You see, sweet Christine, I'm in a sort of-" he faltered slightly under the ferocity of his cousin's gaze. "Financial predicament, of sorts." She scoffed and turned away, gripping Jeremy's hand a bit too tightly for his liking as she started to walk off.

"Chrissy, wait," Dustin called, almost desperately. Good.

She agitatedly turned, her hair whipping in her face and getting a few strands stuck in her mouth.

"What?" As she said it, she realized how strained and exasperated she sounded. She self-consciously cleared her throat, and gripped Jeremy's hand tighter. He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles soothingly.

"I only need fif-" he was cut off as Christine held up a hand to stop him.

"No. I'm not giving you money so you can buy weed. I don't care if we're 'related', Dustin. I don't care if you're 'in danger' because you can't pay back your dealer. Honestly, Dustin, I stopped giving a shit about you years ago." She turned back around and dragged Jeremy along with her toward the front doors.

They had stayed longer than they wanted to, so Christine hurried down the hall, dodging lingering students and ignoring the yelling and groaning from the chess club in the library.

Jeremy managed to escape from her grasp and hurried to her side. He touched her shoulder and she flinched and jerked from his hand, but didn't stop. _Now_ he was worried, at least, more worried than he was before.

She pushed open the heavy door to the school, and sniffled slightly, hoping Jeremy would think it was from the cold. She hurried and prays to whoever's up there Dustin isn't following them.

Jeremy catches up and grabs her hand, gently guiding her to one of the picnic tables in the front courtyard. When she turns to look at him, he's surprised to see she has _tears_ in her eyes.

He pulls her into a hug, and she laughs, in the weird, wet way you laugh when you're about to cry. When she pulls away and Jeremy sees the way she looks when she cries (he doesn't think he's ever seen her cry before), his heart breaks just a little.

He grabs both her hands and covers them with his, and Christine looks down at them, an unexplainable look on her face. Melancholy, maybe?

She takes a shaky breath. "Dustin and I were best friends the second we saw each other. He's related to me on my dad's side, which explains," she gives a breathy laugh, "everything."

Christine is thankful no one else is in the courtyard to see her tears. It's embarrassing enough that she's leaning on her boyfriend and staining his nice blue shirt (that compliments his eyes _so well)_ with mascara and tears, so someone seeing would just be adding salt to the wound.

Of course, he is warm, despite the odd chill in the air (it's May, why is it so cold?), and his hands are rubbing small circles in her back comfortingly. Her head is resting on his chest, and his chin is gently brushing against her forehead as he whispers soothing words in her ear.

"Everytime we would see each other, at parties or picnics, we would play and laugh, and when he moved close enough to be at the same school as me, it was the best news I had gotten I while. This was in sixth grade. I was always the theatre girl, who had many mutuals but never any friends. Dustin and I stuck together until eighth grade, and they were the best two years of my life. Platonic study dates, note passing, we sent each other outdated memes, Jeremy. _Memes_." She laughs at that, but it's still sad and sniffly.

Jeremy builds the courage to ask: "What happened in eighth grade?"

She sniffs and wipes her eye on her sleeve, smearing her mascara even more, but she doesn't give a shit. "He started hanging out with the wrong people, doing drugs, drinking, smoking. Never enough to get caught, but enough so he could stop feeling, even for a minute."

She stops abruptly, stiffening as she recalls one of the worst nights of her life. Jeremy presses soft kisses to her forehead in a feeble attempt to comfort her. It doesn't work, but Christine appreciates the gesture.

"Then one night, he comes to my house, drunk out of his mind. He could barely walk, he was so goddamn lucky my parents weren't home. He begged for me to let him crash there for the night, saying that if he went home his parents would beat the shit out of him. My stupid thirteen year old self took pity on him. I let him crash in my bed, called his parents and lied, told _my_ parents the same thing. He slept for a little, and when he woke up he was a bit more sober. I-"

She broke off, her words choking her, getting stuck in her throat. "I tried to ask him what happened, I pressed him too hard, I guess, and he-" she lets loose a sob and covers her mouth. She's never been a pretty crier. She presses herself closer to her boyfriend, thankful he's dealt with her shit this long.

"He hit me. He stood up and slapped me across the face." She feels Jeremy stiffen and his hands start hurting her back as he rubs circles harder and harder. She shrugs him off, and he must've realized what he was doing because he holds her hands instead.

"Granted, it wasn't very hard, keep in mind he was still super wasted, and I got over it, but he's just such an asshole, and I don't know how I used to like him. I don't know how we used to be friends." She clears her throat and wipes her eyes.

"Wait. You said he was related on your dad's side, and that explained everything. What was that supposed to mean?" The question blurted out of Jeremy's mouth before he could process it.

Christine reels back like she's been slapped (don't make that analogy Jeremy). "Nothing, it doesn't matter. Let's go, I'm excited to meet Evan." She changed the subject quickly, and Jeremy was smart enough to know not to press for details.

He handed her his phone and she looked at it oddly before she saw the makeup that gave her raccoon eyes in the reflection. She wiped it off and handed it back to Jeremy.

They grabbed their bags and started off to Jeremy's house. He grabbed her hand and laced their fingers. She smiles and kicks a pebble down the sidewalk.

"Jer?" She asks.

"Yeah?" He glances down at her, and the sun hits his hair so perfectly, giving him a halo-type look, and Christine sucks a breath in. She realizes in that moment how great he is. Despite the makeup stains on his shirt, and the acne that speckles his forehead, he looks beautiful, inside and out. His pretty blue eyes search her face, and his hand is soft and warm in hers.

It's then that she realizes she has so much to tell him, so much she needs to tell him, so many secrets about herself, her family, her _feelings_. Specifically feelings for him.

She thinks she might love him.

She has so much to say. So many thoughts run through her head. She doesn't voice them, though. Instead she says, "Thank you."

Jeremy's front door gets closer.

"You're welcome." He says

They reach the door.

It opens.

* * *

 **Wowie that got way longer than I intended. Honestly I had a whole thing planned about what this chapter was going to be about and then threw it all out the window and write this. Thing. This story is really fun already even if this chapter isn't that good but what can you do. Also I was calling my friend when writing half of this so if anything is inconsistent (even though I double checked it) let me know in the reviews! Speaking of, reviews are greatly appreciated and make my day when I read them, so make sure to leave a review, I love them. I hope you all have a great day/night wherever you are!**


	2. Bad News Delivered via Twitter

**I'm back bitches,,,,,, with more of this story that hasn't been thought out (hah just kidding I thought out the next three sentences so get fukked). Also a lot of these are just going to be Christine and Jeremy centric bc this ship is just so,,,,,,,,,,, pure hhhhh. Also my daughter deserves all the love and validation (in order to give her that, I need to make her go through some rough shit in this be prepared), and I have yet to find a fic where Michael isn't in pain bc of Chris and Jer's relationship. Supportive Michael?,,,, on _my_ computer? It's more likely than you think. (I'm sorry I'm the queen of unfunny jokes) also I totally fucked up the ending with the whole door thing last chapter, Jeremy was the one who opened the door but it's gonna kinda be different at the beginning of this one, bear with me bls**

* * *

Christine needed to control her feelings, like. _Now._

She could feel her heart beating faster every second, and wiped her hands on her green dress. As soon as she realized her 'feelings' for Jeremy, she felt different. Not 'bad' different, just 'weird' different.

Christine realizes that she might actually love him. This awkward, tall, gangly boy had been on her mind a lot lately, and him sitting with her as she cried and stained his shirt without complaining was one of the best things someone had ever done for her.

She wants to grow old with him, buy a house, go to college, have eight kids with him and oh god she needs to _stop thinking like that right now_.

She's pulled out of her head when he envelops her hand in his. She sends a grateful smile his way and he returns it as he fishes for the keys to his house. As he unlocks the door, Christine's nerves kick into overdrive and her hands start sweating so she pulls them from his grasp.

If he notices, he doesn't say anything, and ushers her into the house. She stands awkwardly in the hallway as he closes and re-locks the door. She slips her bag off and hangs it from the hook Jeremy usually hangs his bag.

He places his hand gently on the small of her back for a millisecond, and it sends warmth through her veins. As she thinks it, she realizes how cheesy that sounds, and realizes, oh no _she's actually in love_. (Oh no he's hot)

"Dad, I'm home!" Jeremy calls, and a pretty blonde woman peeks her head out of the kitchen doorway, drying her hands on a towel and immediately a grin breaks out on her face as she notices the two teens.

"Jeremy, good, you're here! I have to go to work in a few minutes, and your dad is at the store, but I started some spaghetti and wanted to know if you could finish it?" Christine wonders why she has such an odd work schedule, then notices the scrubs. Oh, she's a nurse. Wow. Mr. Heere really won the lottery with this one.

Jeremy nods uncertainly. Christine knows from experience how bad he is at cooking. She had tried toteach him once and it ended in them cleaning up hot water and raw pancake mix.

He was trying to make them pre-packaged ramen noodles.

Heidi sticks her hand out and Christine shakes it.

"You must be Christine. Jeremy's talked a lot about you," Heidi has a nice voice, Christine notices. It's kind of high pitched, but cute in a lazy, laid back kind of way.

Her blue eyes are sweet and crinkle around the edges when she smiles. Speaking of, her smile is kind and her blonde hair is wispy around the edges, and looks like she sprayed it with hairspray then crunched it with her hands. It's a nice look on her.

She waves them farther in, and Christine is hit by the sharp smell of spaghetti sauce. There are noodles boiling on the stove, and garlic bread is baking in the oven.

Heidi takes no time to brief them on what is happening, then grabs her coat and hurries out the door.

That leaves them standing awkwardly in the kitchen, until the noodle water starts boiling over, and Christine wastes no time in grabbing a towel and turning the heat on the stove down.

She wipes the excess water off the stove and sets the wet towel in the left side of the sink. She picks up the pot of noodles and pours it in the strainer sitting in the right side.

"Jeremy, can you stir the sauce, please?" He complies, but somehow manages to singe the wooden spoon against the burner.

Christine sighs, a bit dramatically, and jokingly rolls her eyes at him. She stirs the sauce and tosses the spoon in the sink (the side without the spaghetti in it.)

The stove is still turned off and the sauce is moved away from the hot burner. She makes three plates of spaghetti (hopefully Evan likes spaghetti sauce. If not, she's fucked), and pulls the garlic bread out from the oven. (She burns her hand a little and Jeremy kind of freaks out, but she puts some ice on it and continues being the good Mom Friend™ she is.)

Speaking of Jeremy, Christine sends him upstairs to get Evan when his fussing gets too much for her.

She sets the plate at the Heere's dining table (which is now clean and free of bills and random papers, thanks to, Christine assumes, Heidi.) As she Christine-dances away from the table, her phone buzzes on the counter. It's Rich.

 **Fuckinsale: hey do you wanna go get groceries w me tomorrow**

 **Chchchchicken: ?**

 **Fuckinsale: my old mans out of town and Michael is eating me out of house and home inbetween**

 **Chchchchicken: rich don't say it**

 **Fuckinsale: sex stuff**

 **Chchchchicken: rich why are you like this**

 **Fuckinsale: bls chris**

 **Fuckinsale: i need food**

 **Chchchchicken: fine but you better buy me some dippin dots**

 **Fuckinsale: thank**

 **Fuckinsale: also when did we need to have our essays done for english**

 **Chchchchicken: Monday**

 **Fuckinsale: fuck**

 **Chchchchicken: RICH**

 **Fuckinsale: its fine I'll figure it out**

 **Chchchchicken: you better bc im not helping you**

 **Fuckinsale: :(**

 **Chchchchicken: i have to go eat w Jeremy and his brother leave me alone**

 **Fuckinsale: ooh~**

 **Chchchchicken: dont**

 **Fuckinsale: use protection**

 **Chchchchicken: /:**

 **Chchchchicken: bye**

 **Fuckinsale: bi**

 _ **Chchchchicken has left the conversation**_

 **Fuckinsale: hahah get it bc im bi**

 **Fuckinsale: im so funny I make myself cackL E**

 **Fuckinsale: oh she left**

Christine puts her phone away and mentally makes a note to leave early enough to go to the store with Rich tomorrow.

She gets some parmesan cheese and whatever else you put on spaghetti out of the cabinets and sets them by the plates.

As she does, there is stomping from the stairs and she snaps her head up as the two boys head down the stairs. Jeremy comes down first, followed by a kid about their age.

He has light brown hair and blue eyes, filled with honesty, which is odd, considering his backstory (though Christine isn't one to judge, considering her boyfriend vored a computer to be with her). This is Evan, she assumes.

He must've just said something funny, because Jeremy is still laughing as they trek into the kitchen.

Jeremy stops suddenly, gripping Evans arm so he stops too.

"Oh-oh my god. Evan _look_. It's my mom," he starts to bounce slightly, and that makes Christine's heart explode because _he's so cute_. "Look, she made us dinner! Check the fridge, she might have packed us a lunch, too!"

She ignores Jeremy, because he's honestly taking her role as everyone's mom too seriously, and reaches out to shake Evan's hand. He seems to hesitate a bit, then shakes her hand gingerly, like he's afraid he'll hurt her.

She introduces herself, trying to be open and friendly. According to Jeremy, he has anxiety, and she really doesn't need to be part of, or the whole, reason another person has a panic attack. (She still feels bad about off-handedly being the reason Michael spent most of last Halloween in the bathroom.)

They sit down to eat, and halfway through, hear Mr. Heere enter and the rustling of paper bags. There's a loud grunting noise and the sound of something falling.

Jeremy leans back in his seat to see and immediately pushes his chair back on all fours, pretending he was eating the whole time. His face turns red with contained laughter and his shoulder are shaking.

Christine pokes him with her fork and asks him what's wrong. He just shakes his head and tries not to laugh out loud, for fear of-something. Christine isn't really sure what he saw, and definitely doesn't want to know.

They continue eating.

Eventually Mr. Heere comes in, disgruntled and carrying a bag with a giant hole in the bottom, muttering about the "damn wet grocery bags" or something. Again, Christine really does _not_ want to know.

Mr. Heere looks surprised to see Christine, which is odd. Maybe it's not surprise, but-actually, she has no idea.

"Christine, I saw your mom at the store today," her head snaps up. She hasn't seen her mom for about two weeks. "Said she was in town for a poetry slam or something. Know anything about that?"

She thinks hard, then shakes her head. "No, she never said anything to me about it, but I guess I should ask her about it later." She's going to have a very _interesting_ conversation with her mom later.

As much as she loves her mom (a hell of a lot more than her dad), her disappearing acts always annoy Christine. Especially when she and her brother are supposed to go over to her house for the weekend and she texts and says she isn't going to be there.

Christine picks up her plate and rinses it in the sink, placing it in the dishwasher after. She leans on the counter and stares at the sink faucet, contemplating tomorrow and the inevitable conversation with her mom.

She doesn't even realize Mr. Heere has left the room, followed by Evan after washing his plate. It's just her and Jeremy now, but she isn't even listening to anything.

She's lost in her mind, swimming through thoughts like water, unable to hear and talk, able to breathe but not trying very hard. She is, but not heavily. It's more of a light sigh, and she doesn't even realize she's breathing like that until Jeremy lightly touches her elbow.

She gasps a little when he does, jerking her head around to face him. She's pulled out of her trance and immediately wants to sit down. She leans on him a little, playing with her fingers.

"Are you okay? You zoned out there for a second," he says, still making contact with her elbow. The touch grounds her, makes her feel less _floaty_ , and more real.

She gets like this sometimes. She just disembodies herself from her mind, lost in thought, hears nothing, feels nothing, does nothing, until she snaps out of it.

It usually only happens when she's stressed, which gives Christine a clear signal to take a breather before she wears herself thin.

It's helpful, she knows, just unfortunate when she's in the middle of class and suddenly realizes she's missed the last five minutes of notes, then has to miss even more so she can go to the bathroom and calm down.

"Yeah," she replies, "just tired. I need to sit down or something, maybe watch a bootleg or two with my wonderful boyfriend, you know, the usual homemade cure."

She's joking, though it would be nice to watch Falsettos or Great Comet with Jeremy, just like the old days.

She misses those.

* * *

Two hours later she and Jeremy are knee-deep into season three of Parks and Recreation (something she had started watching a while back thanks to Jake), and Jeremy has listened to Christine complain about Mark for the seventh time in thirty minutes.

Evan was downstairs with Mr. Heere, watching some nature documentary on the Discovery channel.

Laying at the foot of Jeremy's small bed with him, watching Netflix and joking around was something she's missed for a while.

"Christine, he's not even _in_ season three, why are you still upset about it?"

" _Because_ , Jere, he's just so- so- argh! I can't even talk about him anymore, I'm going to have an aneurism! I hate him so _much_ , he's so selfish and doesn't know how have a good, healthy, relationship, and Anne totally doesn't deserve to be his girlfriend, because she's so much better than him!"

She grabs the remote and turns the tv off, and Jeremy protests loudly. She swats his shoulder lightly.

"Don't be a baby. You've seen this season at least four times now."

He mutters a grumpy "okay", before leaning over her for his phone, stretching his arm out toward the nightstand farthest from them, where it sat.

In his struggle to grab it, he flopped down on top of Christine.

And layed there.

She struggles underneath his weight (which wasn't much, because the only muscle strength she's gained lately is from moving props for theater, so she isn't the strongest), and awkawardly turns to hit his shoulder again.

"Get off me!" She screeches, gasping for breath under his body and between laughter. She turns around onto her back and beats her hands on his back.

While this is all going on, Jeremy is laughing and rolling around on top of his girlfriend, ignoring the feeling of her wriggling to get out of his grasp, of her fists gently pounding his back.

Eventually Christine gives up and resumes the show, no longer paying attention to Jeremy on top of her.

After a little, he grabs his phone and scrolls through twitter, harassing Jenna by tagging her in embarrassing pictures of her Rich sent him, laughing at the few three-in-the-morning-thoughts Jake has posted.

He looks through Christine's tweets, smiling at the few she's recently posted, mostly group pictures of them all at school, at the spring carnival from a few week ago, because her twitter is full of sweet, innocent things. It's very Christine.

Then he sees that a few hours ago someone has tagged her in something a few hours ago. Just reading it makes him angry.

It's Dustin.

 _Hey **thespianigula** , did your boyfriend clean his shirt after you snotted it all up with your tears and problems? Because there sure are a lot of them, it seems_

Underneath is a picture of her and Jeremy sitting on the bench, close together. Christine is looking down, and even from the distance, you can see the tears on her cheeks and Jeremy is staring at her helplessly.

Immediately he stiffens, blood boiling with rage. It's a low-blow, of course, but that's just like Dustin, to do something like that.

He tears his eyes from his phone when he feels Christine successfully pull herself from underneath him, grabbing her phone from beside her.

"I'll be right back. I'm gonna call my mom." She says, heading towards the bathroom. He grabs her arm gentl before she can go very far.

"Wait a sec, Chris, you might want to see this, it's kind of important." She starts to protest, until he shows her the screen.

Her immediate reaction is anger. Then to call Dustin and talk it over, but with a lot more screaming.

Maybe if they met in person, she could slap him, too.

Instead, she closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and plans to resolve it later.

"Okay, I'll talk to him about it later, right now I have to call my mom." She says, and heads through the door that connects Jeremy's room to the upstairs bathroom.

Jeremy waits anxiously for her to come out, texting the Emergency Group Chat™ (made by him, including everyone in their friend group except Christine, for moments like these, when he had a Christine problem), about the situation.

They text back with things like _I'll kick his ass!,,,,_ (Rich), and others like _i can socially ruin that bitch if you want me to_ (Chloe), and Jeremy is suddenly glad he has friends like that.

Jeremy's head snaps up when he hears loud arguing from the bathroom. It's not exactly _yelling_ , because she would never yell unless it was a joke and not out of anger, but she's very close to it right now.

That makes him even more anxious.

* * *

When Christine comes out of the bathroom, her face is kind of red and her mascara slightly smudged, and Jeremy opens his arms wide from where he's leaning on the headboard of his bed.

She falls into them gratefully, hugging her boyfriend's waist tightly. Her head is resting facedown on his chest, and she's shaking a little, he notices. He hugs her tighter.

Eventually, they go from leaning against his bed to laying down, Christine's face still pressed into his chest, clinging to him like a lifeline.

She's been doing that a lot, lately.

Christine has always considered herself a strong person. She takes care of her little brother when her dad gets too drunk (so, all the time), gets her work done on time, never asks for help on things she can handle on her own, but sometimes it's nice to be held.

Maybe that's why Jackson like hugs so much.

Jeremy is aware of Christine's every move, when she shifts a little, or breathes a little heavily, or stops shaking, just to make sure she doesn't faint from stress or something. (That almost happened before. It was a crazy night.)

When her breathing evens out and she stops moving, he hopes she fell asleep and didn't pass out or something. He moves his arm a little to grab his phone and check the time. 9:36.

He pulls the blankets underneath them down, trying not to wake Christine up. She doesn't, luckily, just shifts a little, and Jeremy is able to cover them both with the sheets.

He falls asleep, as soon as he turns his lamp light off.

* * *

 **OOF this is a lot shittier than I thought. I tried for angst but half of this was finished today bc I wanted to get it out so the sadness factor is very low and bad. Also Jackson is Christine's brother and if I didn't mention that I'm sorry he's kinda important.**

 **im trying to make Christine's life kinda shitty rn bc the only way I know how to show affection for my favorite character is to make them suffer but it'll get better soon I promise.**

 **get ready bc next chapter is when Christine and Rich go to the store so that'll be fun whoo**

 **(the 'at' sign for like email and twitter etc. didn't work when I saved this for christines twitter handle so just pretend that's there oop)**

 **bls forgive me if I make a mistake in grammar or spelling I proofread it but,,,,**

 **bye hoes I quit with this altogether ugh**


	3. uhhhhh,,,,

**Uh. Hi I guess? So.**

 **im just gonna get this over with. It's not too bad or anything, but I'm gonna go on hiatus with this story for a while. I love this story, don't get me wrong, but I don't know where it's going, I don't have a set end to it, and i plan on starting a newsies(!) story with an actual end/plot later sometime this month. i just don't have the time or energy to juggle a bunch of stories, especially when I don't know where I'm going with this one. (I actually have like half of chapter three out but,,,)**

 **ill come back to this story later, when I have an actual plot and everything, but for now, don't expect any updates. Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, and favorited the two pitiful chapters I published in this fuckpile. If you have any questions or something, hit me up on the PMs.**

 **have a great day/night!**


End file.
